that this front may escalate even further or turn into a full war. the enemy must calculate carefully. please understand the clock is ticking. my grandmother has no time. we are absolutely focused on getting hostages back. humanitarian pause could help that effort. is this the most complicated time of your presidency so far? thank you so much. thank you. nothing to it? john: secretary of state antony blinken back in israel to meet with that country s war cabinet as fears grow president biden may soon turn his back against israel s fight to defeat hamas. all this as just moments ago a rocket lands near foreign journalists in southern israel. trey yingst among them. john roberts in washington. so starts a friday afternoon. sandra: sandra smith in new york. in his third visit to israel since the start of the war, blinken telling reporters the u.s. stands in solidarity with israel s right to defend itself. also urged prime minister benjamin netanyahu to halt his gro
saying not without the hostages being returned. sandra: and the hezbollah leader is threatening further escalation against israel and the united states, warning that our warships stationed off the coast of israel will do nothing to deter the iran-backed proxy. john: joint exercises in the mediterranean sea with more than 11,000 u.s. troops participating. sandra: complete coverage for you now, and idf spokesperson is moments away with the latest from the battlefield. john: alex hogan live in tel aviv. what s the reaction been there to blinken s comments about the pause today? john, sandra, there was a lot of concern for residents here worried about the potential for a ceasefire but israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu shut down that possibility. we also heard from u.s. secretary of state antony blinken saying the u.s. goals for this conflict, really four of them. the first would be to prevent the conflict from spilling out into other countries, that s something